I saw this a couple of weeks ago. It is another perfectly fine superhero film in a year full of them, but not great. I actually probably enjoyed it the most of this year's slate, even with its problems. A fun popcorn film, and superior to the first.

Pros:
Hemsworth and Hiddleston are spot on. They are both more comfortable in their roles and this is easily their best performances of the three films they have been in. Hiddleston in particular steals every scene he's in.
Asgard is fleshed out more and the supporting cast (besides Hogun) is used a lot a better.
Doesn't wear out its welcome. This is a fun ride for a couple of hours, but that's it. It is refreshing after too many too long blockbusters with stories that don't support their two and half hour runtimes.
Best action of any non-Avengers Marvel Studios film.

Cons:
The villain was terrible. He's merely a plot device, not a real character. He's the worst main villain in a year full of bad villains in superhero films.
It has a bad first act, particularly the scenes set on Earth. I like the humor in this film in general, but it just goes on too long before the real story starts with Jane getting the aether . Especially the gag of them throwing objects into the portal, which was fine at first but just kept going and going...
Did they ever explain how the Bifrost was fixed?
Portman delivers a weak performance. In particular, I didn't buy Jane's first experiences in Asgard.
The mid-credit scene didn't work at all for me. Seemed really cheesy, almost like Batman & Robin.

You know, it's so strange. Every person I saw it with, or with whom I spoke to in real life, absolutely adored Darcy, her intern, and the Earth parts in general (except, strangely, Jane... My mom and dad both didn't take to Jane). I know that the Earth scenes helped a few of my friends/relative who only saw Avengers before coming to see TDW which still seems like an odd choice to me, but then I'm one of those people who can't read book series out of order.

Even the ones who did see Thor and so didn't "need" the Earth scenes are much to understand the movie really enjoyed the Earth characters like Selvig, Darcy, and, yes, even Ian (also randomly, my dad really liked Jane's dinner date). Plenty of them showed no real interest in the Warrior's three even when I prodded them about the characters, and I can sort of get why. Plenty of them were like my mom or best friend: they saw these movies because they like the other Marvel films, but they are not big on the whole heavy sci-fi/fantasy influence. It seems weird, yeah, especially when you consider that my mom is quite taken with Thor and - just like a good fangirl - utterly adores Loki, but the scenes where you have magic laser shooting vikings fighting of dark matter space elves? She could have easily done without it being quite so "like they decided they wanted to make Lord Of The Rings Verses Star Wars" as she explained it.

Yet when I come on here you would think the that Darcy was added into the script despite universal upset and anger over her appearance in the first Thor. It seems really very strange to me that opinions would be so incredible different. It's not as though my friend base is nerd free. Hell, half of them I meet during my Harry Potter phase! So how is it that in real life everyone I know is a Darcy fan, but online she is a pariah?

I really liked Darcy in the 1st movie, didnt get the complaints about her then, but the problem with TDW IMO was the final battle, were they were cutting away from Thor vs Malekith to have funny moments with Darcy and her intern. It made the final fight less tension filled and dramatic. The whole universe was about to come to an end and Darcy and the Intern were making jokes and what not, it just didnt fit and ruined the final fight a little bit for me.

Before that I didnt mind Darcy or the earth characters in the movie, but at the same time they shouldnt have got more screen-time than the likes of The Warriors 3, Sif, Heimdall and even Odin.

I really liked Darcy in the 1st movie, didnt get the complaints about her then, but the problem with TDW IMO was the final battle, were they were cutting away from Thor vs Malekith to have funny moments with Darcy and her intern. It made the final fight less tension filled and dramatic. The whole universe was about to come to an end and Darcy and the Intern were making jokes and what not, it just didnt fit and ruined the final fight a little bit for me.

Before that I didnt mind Darcy or the earth characters in the movie, but at the same time they shouldnt have got more screen-time than the likes of The Warriors 3, Sif, Heimdall and even Odin.

I agree, the cut away to Darcy during the final battle was a mood killer for me..
I still laughed at Thor hanging his hammer on the coat rack, that was classic...

I agree, the cut away to Darcy during the final battle was a mood killer for me..
I still laughed at Thor hanging his hammer on the coat rack, that was classic...

Yeah, a lot of the humour in the movie worked, but some of it was either terribly placed, not funny, or both, and it really took away from the final battle for me. It actually annoyed me when they kept cutting away from it.

Another mediocre movie by Marvel, with its silly, unnecessary humor, another lame, forgettable villain, dumb plotholes... no wonder it can't compete with The Hunger Games, which is far from being a masterpiece or anything, but is less dumb and more interesting, specially the characters. And there are no excuses, as The Lord of the Rings trilogy has proven, you can do successful fantasy films that are Oscar-worthy, and being less ambitious, at least TDK trilogy quality, instead of serving the lowest common denominator. Hopefully The Winter Soldier will be much better since the potential is there... or just more of the same if Marvel dumbs it down.

Another mediocre movie by Marvel, with its silly, unnecessary humor, another lame, forgettable villain, dumb plotholes... no wonder it can't compete with The Hunger Games, which is far from being a masterpiece or anything, but is less dumb and more interesting, specially the characters. And there are no excuses, as The Lord of the Rings trilogy has proven, you can do successful fantasy films that are Oscar-worthy, and being less ambitious, at least TDK trilogy quality, instead of serving the lowest common denominator. Hopefully The Winter Soldier will be much better since the potential is there... or just more of the same if Marvel dumbs it down.

If you don't like what Marvel has done with its MCU films, why are you still going to see said films?

It's one thing to offer constructive criticism; it's an entirely different thing to just whine and complain, which, in the absence of explanations about why you feel as you do, is the only thing that your post amounts to.

__________________

Quote:

"Despair is for people who know beyond any doubt what the future is going to be. Nobody's in that position. So despair is not only a kind of sin - theologically - it's also a simple mistake, because nobody actually knows." - Dr. Patrick Curry

Quote:

"There is no "supposed to be." It's an adaptation, a word that literally means change. Why bother making a new version if it doesn't offer a fresh approach?" - Christopher L. Bennett

The MCU formula is not going to change in the foreseeable future. I'll eat my socks if they make a dark & unrelenting film. Thus, the question arises: if someone does not like the formula, why continue seeing the films? They're not going to change: they're like Keebler Cookies. Sure, they might change the frosting and the name, but they're going to remain the same, structurally. For me, I know what I will be getting into with each film...which is nice, considering going to the flicks these days ain't cheap, especially when you're a broke grad student. There's nothing like shelling out $20 on a superhero flick and having it kick you in the nads.

__________________
"Johnny Storm's a good-hearted kid, sure, but he has the attention span of a toaster, and he leads with his face; in Johnny's undisciplined mind, there's only a single synapse between thinking and doing. The Avengers' battle cry is "Avengers Assemble"; the Fantastic Four's is "Johnny, WAIT!"----Mark Waid

If you don't like what Marvel has done with its MCU films, why are you still going to see said films?

It's one thing to offer constructive criticism; it's an entirely different thing to just whine and complain, which, in the absence of explanations about why you feel as you do, is the only thing that your post amounts to.

It baffles me when people complain about the MCU films when we're already in Phase two.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonathancrane

The MCU formula is not going to change in the foreseeable future. I'll eat my socks if they make a dark & unrelenting film. Thus, the question arises: if someone does not like the formula, why continue seeing the films? They're not going to change: they're like Keebler Cookies. Sure, they might change the frosting and the name, but they're going to remain the same, structurally. For me, I know what I will be getting into with each film...which is nice, considering going to the flicks these days ain't cheap, especially when you're a broke grad student. There's nothing like shelling out $20 on a superhero flick and having it kick you in the nads.

We're in Phase 2 now with more than 6 movies and he's still complaining? Why? To troll?

^Thats the thing though, we are 7 movies in and they are still doing the same thing, THIS is why people are complaining and why people like me are getting a bit fed up with these movies all feeling the same. I havent disliked any of them, but if they aimed a bit higher and changed their ways a bit we might end up with something truly special from Marvel Studios.

Mikelus isnt the type to just complaint unnecessarily as I have seen him post here for a long time.

I didn't see Mikelus ask for anything "dark and unrelenting" from TDW. He just apparently wanted a good fantasy epic, in the vein of LOTR, as he said. Or even GOT, which would be a reasonable expectation coming from the actual *director* of said show.

It's a fair complaint, given that most of the Thor fanbase prefers the JMS-style high fantasy elements rather than the down-to-earth superhero of the Silver Age, or even the blasters 'n' starships space opera that the MCU insists on applying to the Nine Realms.

I didn't see Mikelus ask for anything "dark and unrelenting" from TDW. He just apparently wanted a good fantasy epic, in the vein of LOTR, as he said. Or even GOT, which would be a reasonable expectation coming from the actual *director* of said show.

It's a fair complaint, given that most of the Thor fanbase prefers the JMS-style high fantasy elements rather than the down-to-earth superhero of the Silver Age, or even the blasters 'n' starships space opera that the MCU insists on applying to the Nine Realms.

, his complaints and dislikes were legitimate and I agree with many of them.

, his complaints and dislikes were legitimate and I agree with many of them.

What complaints and dislikes? He didn't articulate anything. All his post amounted to was whining.

__________________

Quote:

"Despair is for people who know beyond any doubt what the future is going to be. Nobody's in that position. So despair is not only a kind of sin - theologically - it's also a simple mistake, because nobody actually knows." - Dr. Patrick Curry

Quote:

"There is no "supposed to be." It's an adaptation, a word that literally means change. Why bother making a new version if it doesn't offer a fresh approach?" - Christopher L. Bennett

__________________
"Johnny Storm's a good-hearted kid, sure, but he has the attention span of a toaster, and he leads with his face; in Johnny's undisciplined mind, there's only a single synapse between thinking and doing. The Avengers' battle cry is "Avengers Assemble"; the Fantastic Four's is "Johnny, WAIT!"----Mark Waid

I thought this was okay. I think it was slightly better than the first one in terms of quality, but it carried a lot of the problems I had with the first.

Pros:
-I thought the performances were good all around
-The action was cool

Cons:
-The climax. Wasnt really a fan of the jumping through portals thing. Idk just didnt move me, thought it was kinda stupid.
-The humor. Now I usually dont complain about the humor, I usually like it, but in here I felt they put the wrong kind of humor in the wrong places. As Im sure many have mentioned jumping from the tense battle to comedy relief characters/moments. Same thing happened in Iron Man 3. I really hope they dont do that with Cap 2
-Love story still kina lame to me. I think this wouldve been a good chance to do more with the Sif/Thor/Jane triangle to at least make things somewhat interesting
-ASgard still wasnt fleshed out enough. I was really excited to hear that the nine realms played such a big part, but I still feel like Sif, The Warriors 3, Heimdall, Frigga, and other ASgardians characters got the shaft. I wouldve liked to see more of them.
-The villain was meh. He was just boring to me. Well performed, but i wasnt that interested in him. He reminded me of Zod how he's just pure dark menacing evil, all the time. Which Im not really a fan of. I'm not a Thor fan, but from what I read Malkeith is more fun and affable in the comics. Is that true?

Anyway, as I said, I thought it was good. Probably my third least favorite Marvel film before IM2 and Thor.

I guess 7/10 (I want to say 7.25/10 because I liked it mroe than Thor 1 which I give a 7/10 but not enough to give it 7.5)

Not a bad movie, but they need to learn from their mistakes going forward

The MCU formula is not going to change in the foreseeable future. I'll eat my socks if they make a dark & unrelenting film. Thus, the question arises: if someone does not like the formula, why continue seeing the films? They're not going to change: they're like Keebler Cookies. Sure, they might change the frosting and the name, but they're going to remain the same, structurally. For me, I know what I will be getting into with each film...which is nice, considering going to the flicks these days ain't cheap, especially when you're a broke grad student. There's nothing like shelling out $20 on a superhero flick and having it kick you in the nads.

I have not liked the MCU films so far, for the most part and for the same reasons as the other person listed, but I hope that they can improve over time.

I'm still a fan of the genre, and I still think that Avengers 2 might be tremendous given the genius of Joss Whedon. I didn't love Avengers 1 but nearly nobody has a 1.000 batting average, and Whedon has done great work before so I can forgive him for a lot.

Ultimately, Marvel will have to evolve as you cannot sell the same formula an infinite number of times. I'm not sure what they will evolve into. We'll see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikelus

Another mediocre movie by Marvel, with its silly, unnecessary humor, another lame, forgettable villain, dumb plotholes... no wonder it can't compete with The Hunger Games, which is far from being a masterpiece or anything, but is less dumb and more interesting, specially the characters. And there are no excuses, as The Lord of the Rings trilogy has proven, you can do successful fantasy films that are Oscar-worthy, and being less ambitious, at least TDK trilogy quality, instead of serving the lowest common denominator. Hopefully The Winter Soldier will be much better since the potential is there... or just more of the same if Marvel dumbs it down.

In fairness, The Hunger Games is beating a lot more movies than Thor 2. It's the best action movie I've seen this year, and a lot of people agree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TeeKay

It baffles me when people complain about the MCU films when we're already in Phase two.

We're in Phase 2 now with more than 6 movies and he's still complaining? Why? To troll?

I didn't expect to dislike the movie as much as I did. I actually enjoyed the first Thor, it might be my favourite of the phase 1 films. When I went to see Thor 2, I was unbelievably repelled, it was like being attacked. It was like going to a nice restaurant, and then being served bad food, it leaves a bad aftertaste. Its awfulness was on my mind.

Part of me needed to vent, and part of me wanted to know if it was just me or a common opinion. I now know it's not just me, but it is a minority opinion. The critical consensus on this film is that it's passable, with a small minority finding it awful.

Too much humour, all the Marvel movies feeling the same in structure and tone, and a few others, they are common complaints with all the MCU movies.

And in Phase 2 IMO these complaints have got worse because Marvel is still making the same mistakes.

Since Phase 2 this far seems to do better than Phase 1 it actually seems pretty fair to not call them mistakes but to instead find that the problem is that the people that don't like it keep watching and keep complaining about the same things. That's not the most rational behavior.

Not that it matters to me what other people do though. I take responsibility for my own entertainment and leave others to care for their experiences.

Since Phase 2 this far seems to do better than Phase 1 it actually seems pretty fair to not call them mistakes but to instead find that the problem is that the people that don't like it keep watching and keep complaining about the same things. That's not the most rational behavior.

Not that it matters to me what other people do though. I take responsibility for my own entertainment and leave others to care for their experiences.

But I and many others were expecting Marvel to take a few risks and change things up a bit with Phase 2 after the success of Avengers, Kevin Feige even said something like that in an interview for IM3. But they have simply gone worse and not learned from their mistakes. Phase 2 has done better financially, but the films themselves have been lacklustre to a lot of people. And they have not changed things up or taken said risks at all, they are just the same movies with more comedy added to them.

I am a Marvel so I am going to keep watching these movies, but my excitement for them keeps dwindling now I know they are going to be comedy heavy with weak villains and little threat to the hero. I shouldnt really know what I am getting a year before a movie is out. When GOTG was announced I was happiest fanboy alive, but having seen IM3 and Thor 2 my excitement is really down for it.

I didnt complain about any of the movies in phase 1 BTW, so its not the same complaints all the time, but the last few movies have all had the same problem, so of course the complaints are going to sound similar.

But I and many others were expecting Marvel to take a few risks and change things up a bit with Phase 2 after the success of Avengers, Kevin Feige even said something like that in an interview for IM3. But they have simply gone worse and not learned from their mistakes. Phase 2 has done better financially, but the films themselves have been lacklustre to a lot of people. And they have not changed things up or taken said risks at all, they are just the same movies with more comedy added to them.

I am a Marvel so I am going to keep watching these movies, but my excitement for them keeps dwindling now I know they are going to be comedy heavy with weak villains and little threat to the hero. I shouldnt really know what I am getting a year before a movie is out. When GOTG was announced I was happiest fanboy alive, but having seen IM3 and Thor 2 my excitement is really down for it.

I didnt complain about any of the movies in phase 1 BTW, so its not the same complaints all the time, but the last few movies have all had the same problem, so of course the complaints are going to sound similar.

Again you set your own opinion as some form of norm that decides what subjective parts are mistakes. Mistakes would be things like a movie contradicting itself, not following it's own internal logic etc. Things that can be pointed out as facts. Things like adding humor isn't a mistake, it's a creative choice.

As for your comment about some people finding phase 2 lackluster, that sounds like you're trying to say that it didn't happen in phase 1, which would of course be an absurd statement. If it's not trying to say that I see no point to the comment at all.

It's good that you realize that the movies are likely to not be done as you would like them. It will still just come off as funny if you still watch them and still go out on forums and complain about the same things. As for villains not posing a threat to the heroes, the Mandarin smacked Tony around pretty well in his movie while Thor got beaten up by Kurse. Neither of the two could achieve final victory purely by their own means in the movies. How many villains have posed a bigger threat than that to their respective heroes? Not Magneto, not the Joker, not Lizard, not Zod, etc. If I was to criticize villains I'd focus on other things than the threat they pose. The logical criticism against someone like Malekith isn't that he doesn't pose a threat, it's that he could be more well developed as a character.

As for villains not posing a threat to the heroes, the Mandarin smacked Tony around pretty well in his movie while Thor got beaten up by Kurse. Neither of the two could achieve final victory purely by their own means in the movies. How many villains have posed a bigger threat than that to their respective heroes?

I find this bit especially amusing, seeing as another complaint I often see is "the heroes don't get to actually win, they need to be helped!" Apparently, some quarters want the villain to be threatening, but not so threatening that they can't be beaten solo by the hero.

( I often think there is a misogynistic undertone at work here, but that might largely be Iron Man 3, not a broader trend )

I find this bit especially amusing, seeing as another complaint I often see is "the heroes don't get to actually win, they need to be helped!" Apparently, some quarters want the villain to be threatening, but not so threatening that they can't be beaten solo by the hero.

( I often think there is a misogynistic undertone at work here, but that might largely be Iron Man 3, not a broader trend )